Heidi Heckelbeck 15 – Heidi Heckelbeck Might Be Afraid of the Dark

Wanda Coven's Heidi Heckelbeck Might Be Afraid of the Dark is a short witchy story for 6 year olds about a first sleepover and a secret.

What happens

Heidi goes to bed with three lights on. Bedroom, bathroom, hall. There are two torches in her bedside drawer as well, in case the power goes.

Nighttime, as she puts it, is FRIGHT time.

Then a pink envelope turns up in her cubby at school. Lucy's having a slumber party and all the girls are invited, including Melanie Maplethorpe, who Heidi privately calls Smell-a-nie.

The games being suggested are Ghost in the Graveyard and scary stories. Both of which happen with the lights off.

Heidi isn't going to admit any of this, obviously. She'd far rather fix it herself, and she has a Book of Spells under her bed. The night-light spell wants a torch, two birthday candles, a plastic bag and a half-peeled orange, which she smuggles out of the kitchen in her pockets.

I'll leave the sleepover itself for your reader. The orange does not survive it.

This is the fifteenth Heidi book and you can drop in anywhere. The chapters are tiny, the magic is small and domestic rather than grand, and the jokes are the sort a six-year-old will repeat back at you all week (Heidi promises her little brother a skunk for his next birthday).

What it does really well is the worrying. Heidi turns down every sensible offer her mum makes, because each one risks somebody finding out. Ask Mrs Lancaster to leave a light on? Melanie would torture her for the rest of her LIFE. Get collected before bedtime? She'd look like a big baby. Anyone who has watched a child talk themselves into a corner will recognise every step of it.

One thing to flag. The scary stories told down in that dark basement work rather well, and a child who spooks easily may want the landing light on afterwards. Given the subject of the book, that may be the point.

What to read next

If your reader takes to her there's plenty more. Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest has her entering the school baking contest with the family recipe, and absolutely refusing to let her brother near the mixture.